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CORE KBot Base, Destroy It!
CORE KBot Base, Destroy It! is the second mission of the original ARM campaign, which follows after the ARM Commander's return to Empyrrean. The mission's objective is to build a base and destroy a Kbot Lab, which CORE have constructed in order to reinforce their numbers on Empyrrean. Starting units Easy *Commander *Peewee x5 *Rocko x2 *Hammer x1 Medium/Hard *Commander *Peewee x2 *Rocko x2 *Hammer x1 Mission strategy The mission starts with the Commander and a small group of units which can provide the former a degree of protection until a base has been established. The Commander is restricted to building Solar Collectors and Metal Extractors as the only forms of resource generation in this mission, so a player should start by building about four Solar Collectors along the northern coast and capping the three metal deposits surrounding the group's starting position. Only once sufficient resource generators have been constructed should the Commander be made to start work on building ARM's own Kbot Lab, which is the only factory available to the player in this mission; a good place for the Kbot Lab is within the confines of the three Metal Extractors, so it may be necessary to move the starting units out of the way, if they haven't been moved already. The map is divided into two masses of land separated by a river running between them, with only two shallow water bridges to the west and south of the players units' starting position allowing travel between both land masses; CORE's base (and thus their Kbot Lab) is situated on the opposing landmass to the player's, as are most of the CORE unit patrols. The ARM Kbot Lab is able to construct all vanilla units barring the Construction KBot, though the lack of enemy air units in the mission makes it unnecessary to produce any Jethros; the quickest and most efficient units to build in order to achieve the mission's objective are Rockos, as their rocket weapon can pack enough of a punch to take down the Kbot Lab and any CORE patrols while not having the Hammer's disadvantageous delay of needing to 'prepare' their weapon for firing. Seeing as the Commander is unable to build a Radar Tower in this mission, it may be wise to move some of the new Kbots around so as to act as watchers for any CORE patrols that may try to enter the player's base. The only CORE units that may attack your base are some of the numerous A.K.s that patrol the map, though these units don't pose any semblance of a threat by way of being mere cannon fodder to any unit that the player can engage them with; a small cluster of these A.K.s can be found patrolling the hill to the east of the player's base, though these and any additional patrolling A.K.s that come into the area via the CORE's base can be dispatched easily with a group of Kbots or the Commander, should their presence be considered enough of an irritation, or if it's necessary to reclaim their wreckages for additional metal. If the player has enough metal to spare, they can build an L.L.T beside the shallow bridge to the left of their base in order to pick off any A.K.s that patrol the area on the other side, though this isn't entirely necessary to keep CORE patrols out, as the player should have built up enough of an army at this point to easily defend the base. Once the player has constructed at least 10 Rockos, they can think about sending them plus the two pre-existing Rockos south towards the CORE base, as this is the path of least resistance to reach the enemy Kbot Lab. Once they have reached a y-junction, should the aforementioned A.K.s that patrol between the CORE base and the hill to the east of the player's base (and thus come past this y-junction) not have been destroyed before now, they can be picked off here with either the Rocko group or the Commander, else they may become a minor nuisance when trying to get past the shallow water bridge. Once the Rockos are at the bridge, the player will need to carefully micromanage the group across it to get the Light Laser Tower within their line of sight so that they can all collectively start firing at it, without the tower causing too much damage to them; once this Light Laser Tower has been destroyed, the Rocko group can continue moving south west until they reach an energy storage, then go west at this point until they come to the Kbot Lab. The mission is won upon the destruction of the enemy Kbot lab, so it's not necessary to destroy any of the other structures within their base. Alternative strategy It is entirely possible on any difficulty to forego building a base and immediately attack the CORE's base with only the starting units. The player should start by moving all the units south until they get to the y-junction, at which point the A.K.s that patrol here can be picked off by the group; however, the Commander should not be made to use the D-Gun on any of these units, as energy is limited and the weapon is required for more important things. Once the A.K. patrols have been disposed of, the group should head towards the CORE base and eventually cross the bridge, with the Commander quickly disposing of the Light Laser Tower with the D-Gun one it's in sight range. The group of units escorting the Commander should attempt to draw fire away from the Commander as he moves towards the Kbot Lab, while the Commander should keep moving so as to evade fire from the Storm patrols, only stopping to use the D-Gun on the Kbot Lab once it's within sight range. Trivia *It is possible to win the mission by capturing the CORE Kbot Lab instead of destroying it, as this technically fulfils the mission's victory condition. **The only units that can be built from this lab are the A.K., Storm and Thud. *Rather than attempting to destroy the Light Laser Tower that watches over the southern shallow water bridge, it is possible to detour slightly south east when crossing the bridge to sneak around it, then continue west towards the Kbot Lab. *There are only six metal deposits on the map, three of which are the ones by the player's starting position and the other three are within the CORE base, though two of these three are already capped by a Metal Extractor, while the other one is situated right next to the Light Laser Tower that watches other the southern shallow water bridge. Category:Total Annihilation Category:Missions Category:ARM Missions Category:Original Missions